Winter to Summer to Fall in 10 days

My sweet Grandad passed away on October 13, so Abbie, Noah and I had the chance to fly to Dallas for 3 days to be with my family. When we left, Minnesota looked like this:(please note the exceptional WT quality of this picture. ie....Landon's tissue in his nose, and Abbie's entire ensemble. I'm quite proud of this one!)

Upon arriving in Dallas, it was very apparent that we had gone back in time three months, as we were sweating to death. (The locals thought it was "cold"). This is Abbie riding with my uncle Chris on his Vespa. This was her favorite part of the trip.

Uncle Dan got Noah to sleep right as we were sitting down for breakfast one of the mornings. (I have to admit for as much as I love my nephews, it was really nice to have my brothers there w/o kids......extra help for me!)
After driving for 22 hours straight from Dallas to SLC with my dad and my brothers, and after a much needed nap for me, we met up with Amy and the boys. Are these the cutest kids ever? And they totally love hanging out......see.....
They pretty much did this for like 3 straight hours.

Halfway through our trip, we went up to Park City to stay at a condo for a few nights. While we were there we celebrated a belated birthday for Jord, and an early birthday for Noah.

Oh, he got right into it! Sandra and I did rock, paper, scissors for who had to clean him up afterwards and she lost. I ended up cleaning the kichen instead. (I'll go ahead and let her think she got the better end of the deal!)
We also went to the BYU/TCU game while we were there. I don't really have much to say about it.....oh wait, yes I do.....we tailgated before hand and that was a lot of fun! Cute picture of Mike and Annie.
Jord with his less than attractive beanie.

If you didn't watch the game, this picture will tell you how it went.

Laura and I still managed to have fun though!! Love you Laura!!

I know, I know, I don't have pictures of my Grandads funeral, Abbie with her girl cousins, swimming at the condo, my cutest niece Lucy, and I'm sure there's something else I'm missing. I pretty much suck at remembering to take pictures! Since marrying into the Hale family, however, I have gotten much better. (Jen and Sandra put up lots of other pictures on their Blogs). We can't wait to go back at Christmas!

Words of Encouragment

So, being the Primary president means that I have to serve in some fashion with the Scouts. (i'm still learning which fashion)The Scouting director is our ward came to me and was telling some of my responsibilities and then asked me if I had any special talents or hobbies that I could potentialy teach the scouts. Silence. "Um not really. I think at one point in my life I did." He thought that was pretty funny, but the truth is, I was serious.

I've been thinking over the past week since our conversation that I really don't have anything that I'm really good at that I could teach someone else. I was beginning to feel really bad for myself and wondering what happened to my life when my sweet son gave me a compliment to lift my spirits. He had just fininshed his "business" in the bathroom and called for me to come help him. During the process he says "Mom, you're a really good wiper." Sigh. "Thanks buddy."

(I don't think the scouts need to learn that skill)

What The......

Top 5 weirdest things I've said lately..

5. Yes, when you get older, you will have hair there.

4. You need to have 2 bites of pizza and then you can have more broccoli. (not lying)

3. Yes, every dinosaur does poop.

2. Get your skateboard out of your cereal.

1. Hon, will you please get that grenade out of Noah's mouth.



See why I'm always craving adult conversation? I'm getting dumber by the year. (oh, and just for the record, the grenade is a toy.)

He's Fouw! (4)

Abbie's card. (yes, I helped her with the spelling)

Chuck E Cheese and his twin. LOL!

Thank You Cub Foods!

The whole gang.

Words cannot express how it feels to watch you little ones grow up. Those of you with kids know. It's exciting and sad all at once. Independance comes and innocence goes. For now, I've got another one to follow in his footsteps, but someday, I'll be watching my youngest turn 4 and know that there are no more to watch. I love you Landon! You make me laugh everyday, and let's hope that is something you don't outgrow.

What would the world be like if we all thought like them?

Abbie: Mom, I have a really best friend on the bus

Me: Really, who is it?

Abbie: Well, I don't know, but she lets me call her Hello Kitty.

(truth be told, I'd be friends with her too!)




Landon: (Holding up his picture that he colored in church) Hey Mom, Mom what does this say?

Me: I don't know bud, I can't see it.

Landon: Maybe it says Kung-Fu Jesus.

(uh.............ok)

True Humanitarians

The funny thing is, the people that they were asking to donate, were the ones in need of the donation. (We have a not so desirable apartment complex nearby). In the end, I'm guessing all four of them will end up splitting the 75 cents that my neighbor and I put in there. Bless their sweet little giving hearts!

So, you know that feeling of happiness you get after cleaning your house all day?

Well, today I discovered something even better.

I left my house in shambles, and took my boys to the park. There is Nothing that beats this kind of happiness. (not even a clean kitchen)